Zimbabwe

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- As the toll of Zimbabwe opposition supporters injured in post-election violence rose to more than 200 yesterday, neighboring South Africa hardened its position on the crisis, calling for the speedy release of election results. South African government spokesman Themba Maseko described the situation in Zimbabwe as "dire." "When elections are held and results are not released two weeks after, it is obviously of great concern," Maseko said, referring to the March 29 presidential election in Zimbabwe.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Ten days after Zimbabwe voted and by most accounts rejected its long-serving, autocratic president, the mood of the country grew more ominous yesterday. The opposition reported widespread attacks on its supporters, black youths drove white farmers off their land and elections officials were arrested on charges of vote tampering. As President Robert G. Mugabe sought to cling to power beyond his 28th year in office, Zimbabwe's High Court began to weigh the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's demand for the immediate release of the presidential election results.

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai accused Zimbabwe's authorities yesterday of preparing a "war against the people" to intimidate opposition voters in a presidential runoff. The accusation came as a document purporting to represent the opposition's "transition" plans circulated here in the capital, prominently featuring a "hit list" of bureaucrats and security officials who would be purged. A spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change scoffed at the authenticity of the document, saying it was merely another sortie in the regime's battle to prevent Tsvangirai from taking power by frightening the higher echelons of the bureaucracy and security services.

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- The main opposition party pressed its claim yesterday that it had won a landslide election victory to unseat Zimbabwe President Robert G. Mugabe, but the government said nothing about the presidential vote 48 hours after ballots had been cast. The only official announcement was that both sides were tied in early parliamentary results. At a news conference yesterday, officials from the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, claimed to have seen the results from more than half of the constituencies and that, according to their calculations, the opposition presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, had won 60 percent of the presidential vote to beat the 84-year-old Mugabe.

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- The main opposition party and independent observers said yesterday that President Robert G. Mugabe was suffering a resounding defeat as election results were tallied, but no official returns were released and the capital was rife with speculation that they were being rigged. Tension was high in Harare, with police deployed on most corners as the delay in announcing results from Saturday's balloting wore on. Usually, the first official results are released within hours of the polls closing.

A Bel Air church's willingness to build a medical clinic in an impoverished and remote area of southern Africa has set off a frenzy of brick-making among the local populace in Zimbabwe. In a cluster of 23 villages in the landlocked country about the size of California, residents have built kilns, made hundreds of bricks and hauled them, often long distances, to Munyarari, a United Methodist mission church and school complex established more than 100 years ago. There, piles of bricks await a groundbreaking for a much-needed health clinic.

BOB DENARD, 78 French mercenary Bob Denard, a mercenary who staged coups, battled communism and fought for French interests and his own across Africa for more than three decades, died Saturday in the Paris area. He suffered from Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular problems. Once France's top gun for hire, he led uprisings in the Belgian Congo, Nigeria, Angola, Zimbabwe - when it was white-ruled Rhodesia - as well as Iran and Yemen. He claimed France often covertly supported his actions.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA -- Zimbabwe's ruling party agreed to modest democratic reforms yesterday ahead of national elections, including slashing the presidential term by a year, ending presidential appointment of legislators and expanding the lower house of parliament. The reform package, however, left intact the sweeping powers wielded by President Robert G. Mugabe, and failed to address the southern African nation's flawed electoral rolls, less than six months before national elections are to be held.

An African mission, sponsored by a Methodist church in Bel Air, will receive blessings from Trinity Lutheran School students in Joppa. The students raised $10,000 during the past school year for Healing Hands Across Zimbabwe and will make a symbolic check presentation today during services at Bel Air United Methodist Church. The church established the mission for the country two years ago. The check represents a million pennies that the children coaxed from their families, friends, neighbors, parents' co-workers and their allowances.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Zimbabwe's president, Robert G. Mugabe, has moved to require that virtually all public companies cede controlling interests to "indigenous citizens," a plan the government calls black empowerment and Mugabe's critics label a bid to shore up his crumbling political support. The proposal, issued in draft legislation published Monday, would transfer a 51 percent stake in the companies to Zimbabweans who were "disadvantaged by unfair discrimination on the grounds of his or her race" before April 1980, when the nation won independence from white rule.